They gave it their all but it wasn’t quite enough as the Singapore Slingers ended day two of their Bali adventure with a defeat at the hands of the Indonesia Patriots, 17-15. The Singapore Slingers started day two of the 2022 ABL 3×3 International Champions Cup in Bali having to win their round of 16 game to advance to the quarterfinals and that is exactly what they did. In a tough defensive battle against the Shoot It Dragons from Thailand, the Slingers held their Thai opponents to just eight points while scoring 12 of their own.
For the Slingers, Delvin Goh and Jun Yuan Lim were solid as they have been throughout the tournament and guest import Jemell Swafford put in a very strong defensive performance helping the Slingers move on in the tournament. With this win the Slingers advanced to the quarterfinals where they faced off against the Indonesia Patriots A however playing their second game within an hour their 2022 ABL 3×3 International Champions Cup campaign came to an end with a 17-15 defeat at the hands of the team that would go on to win the tournament. The quarterfinal match went point for point, but the Slingers missed opportunities from the charity stripe would prove their downfall.
Slingers coach Neo Beng Siang, although disappointed the team didn’t advance to the semifinals was realistic in his assessment. Singapore has not had any real competitive basketball competition for over two years due to Covid and Singapore has not had any 3×3 focus until recently so in reality we were fairly content with how competitive we were throughout the tournament. This ABL 3×3 tournament has been of a high standard with some quality players and it was great to get back on court. The sweltering heat has been a real challenge for our players, but we couldn’t complain about the location beside the beach in Kuta Bali.
“We can see that we’re definitely rusty but we’re still there. We’re still improving day by day, “Slingers forward Delvin Goh said after a tight encounter against the Indonesian Patriots team. Over two days, the Slingers showed their quick adaptability as well as their resilience as they continued to fight despite being down on multiple occasions.
Being their first game by the beach since the 2012 Cable Beach Invitational Tournament, the players surely had fun while coach Neo Beng Siang also had some great thoughts about the basketball showdown by the beach in Bali.
“I think this was a very good tournament for the ABL to organize its first 3X3. It’s a good event to move on to the future.”
“This is the first time we are getting the players together. Performance-wise, the players played hard. For us, we’ll keep on training for the future. I think we’ll help the local players to perform better over time. “
The Slingers will now look to start preparing for the possible resumption of the ASEAN Basketball League in September of this year. This tournament should give them an extra boost in terms of getting a feel of the competitive nature of the 3X3 tournaments and after the success of the inaugural ABL 3×3 Tournament in Bali there is already discussions about future ABL 3×3 events.
